


Daughter of Apollo

by Believe_in_the_Journey (orphan_account)



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Apollo is not a fantastic father and no one is surprised, F/M, I'm bad at tags..., Prophecies, Quests, Visions, Vivid nightmares, brother-figure-Frank-Zhang, death visions, meddling Aphrodite, oblivious boys, this is also on Quotev
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:10:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Believe_in_the_Journey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her whole life, Rylee Wickers has felt abandoned by her father. Naturally, in her sophomore year, she discovers she is a demigod. Even at her new home, with more siblings than she can ever keep track of, she still feels alone. Then comes the prophecy requiring her to help rescue the person her crush is in love with. It is the start of something bigger than she can imagine, even when the visions are warning her of everything that will happen if she fails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One: Setting Fire to a Hellhound

I sat down at my desk, staring off into space. I fiddled with my pencil, trying to think of something else to draw besides the gorgeous boy in front of me. I could just imagine sketching his curly dark brown, almost black, hair, thin frame, and mischievous eyes. Snap out of it, Rylee, I thought to myself. I doodled a flower on my paper that eventually turned into the sun. I drew the sun a lot, even though people said I was too obsessed with it. Something about the different layers and colors needed to draw it accurately fascinated me. 

“That’s really good! Where’d you learn to draw like that?” came a familiar voice from behind me. I jolted up, my sketchpad falling to the floor as I twisted around in my seat. Leo had been watching me draw over my shoulder. I blushed and hoped he didn’t notice. 

“Uh, I don’t know, I just… uh, draw a lot…” I stuttered nervously. My heart fluttered in my chest as he smiled.

“Well, you’re amazing. What’s your name again? We have English together, right?” 

“Rylee, and we h-have study hall, too.” I said, unable to look at his warm brown eyes without blushing, therefor staring at my hands intently. 

I could practically hear his smirk as he said, “Well, obviously. Seeing as we’re in it right now.” 

I heard the chair next to me scrape the floor as he pulled it out and sat down. My heart raced faster as he picked up my sketchpad and handed it to me. I fumbled with it and managed to drop it again. I peered up at him though my long bangs that were hanging in my eyes, heat coloring my face in embarrassment. I picked it back up and set it on my desk. 

“You okay? You seem a little… jumpy…” he said, not unkindly.

I nodded just as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period. I gathered up my things slowly, reluctant to leave, even after Leo was long out of the classroom. Soon I was the last person left in the class besides Ms. Havers who was erasing the blackboard that had previously held our homework assignment. As I was leaving, the teacher turned to me. Her usually dark, olive skin was milk-white, her irises turning a red color. “Ma’am? Is something wrong?” I asked nervously, tapping my foot anxiously. 

“Fresh meat, so easy…” She croaked. She dropped to her hands and knees, making an odd growling sound deep in her throat. I backed up slowly, running into a desk. Her head snapped up and she bared her long white fangs. She was turning into some kind of black furry dog type thing, except it was much too big to be a dog.

Horror bubbled in my throat, my feet glued to the ground in terror. A silent scream echoed in my head, Run, Rylee! Get out of there! RUN! But my feet still refused to move. I was going to die, be eaten alive by this creature. 

Then she pounced and I shut my eyes tightly. I heard a bang, and felt heat on my face. I was dead. She’d killed me and now I was in some warm heaven type place or something. I slowly opened my eyes to a blinding light, which eventually dimmed enough for me to realize was fire. I wasn’t dead, the monster was gone, and Leo was standing in front of the fire, breathing heavily. “You okay, Rylee?” He asked worriedly.

I couldn’t respond, my eyes wide. What had just happened?! He took my hand, and as he guided me down the crowded hallway, I realized the ringing I heard was actually a fire alarm, not just in my head. Panicked students and confused teachers filled the hallways, trying to get to the doors before the sprinklers kicked on. A minute later ice cold water poured from the ceiling and kids started screaming as they were soaked. They ran faster, pulling Leo and I with them. Once we were outside, Leo pulled me from the crowd and kept going until we’d reached the parking lot. He helped me gently into a car, a black-haired boy with sea-green eyes waiting in the driver’s seat. Leo joined me in the back as a blonde girl was sitting in the passenger. “Go, before they notice.” the girl hissed at the boy. 

The boy stepped on the gas and we flew out of the parking lot and down the street. He made several turns, so many I lost track of where we were. I wasn’t sure why I’d allowed myself to be dragged into this stranger’s car, but it felt right somehow. No alarms were ringing in my head like they always had as soon as I entered my study hall. After what seemed like three hours, but was probably only ten minutes, Leo looked at me. “I know you’re in shock, and you have no idea what’s going on, but you can trust us. We’re taking you to see your mom, okay. She’ll explain everything.” 

I just nodded, realizing we were taking the long route to my apartment building. I briefly wondered how they knew the way to my house, or where I lived, but couldn’t manage to ask them. Finally they parked a block away and everyone stepped from the car. I fumbled with the buckle on my seatbelt as the blonde girl opened my door for me. I managed to unbuckle myself and nodded at the girl in appreciation as I got out of the car. We walked silently to my apartment, the black-haired boy and blonde girl exchanging looks I couldn’t read. Once we’d been buzzed into the building and gone up the elevator to my floor, everything became robotic. This was normal. I hadn’t been attacked by a monster. It wasn’t the middle of the morning. There weren’t three strangers walking me to my own apartment. I reached for my key hanging on the zipper on my backpack and my hand closed on air. I pulled my backpack off and looked at the zippers. My key must’ve fallen off in the chaos. I looked at the two boys and girl who were watching me expectantly. Then the door opened behind me, revealing my mother, in her sweats and tank top, her hair disheveled like she just rolled out of bed. “Rylee?” She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes. “What’re you doing home so early? And …” She stopped as she saw the trio behind me, her face draining of color.

“Come in…” She said softly, moving aside to let us in. The four of us sat in the living room as she disappeared into her bedroom, returning five minutes later, her light brown hair pulled back into a messy bun, her pj’s replaced with dark-wash jeans and her light blue Betty’s Maid Service shirt that had the business’ slogan printed in curly black font on the back. She sat down next to the blonde girl, a serious expression on her face. “I thought we’d have more time. A month you said.” 

The black-haired boy’s expression grim, he shook his head, “That’s what we thought, but after today, she’ll be blamed for the fire. She can’t stay.”

“Fire?” My mother exclaimed. The situation was just getting weirder. “What happened? Tell me everything.” 

Leo spoke up, finally. “I’m not quite sure, but I do know our study hall teacher was a hellhound. She attacked Rylee, and when I walked back in, well, any later and your daughter would be dead. The fire’s my fault. But even if there wasn’t a fire, your daughter’s just too old to be staying here, not without training.” His expression was too serious. Not at all what I remembered of his goofy, playful, mischievous self. But why was I surprised? No one was who I thought they were. Next thing they’d be telling me that the man who ran out on my mom for some hot, young actress was actually a flying monkey. 

“Stop!” I murmured. No one heard me. “STOP!” I screamed. They all stared at me like I was insane…. maybe I was. Maybe I’d snapped. It didn’t matter. “Stop speaking in riddles in front of me, damnit! You’re talking about my world falling apart like it’s a ruined picnic. Somebody explain to me why I should trust you three who seem to know more about my study hall teacher that I’ve had for two years than I do. Someone tell me why she turned into…. whatever you called it, someone tell me how you know my mom.” I was crying now. Hot tears pouring down my face. “And someone tell me where you plan on taking me!”

My mom gave the three strangers a pointed look and they left the apartment, probably going outside to cause more world-flipping. The woman I thought I knew turned to me. “Rylee, I never lied about your dad. I did leave out one detail though. He was a Greek god. I know this is really hard to believe, but please trust me. You are a demigod. He told me to find a way to Camp Half-Blood when you turned eleven. I didn’t listen. I couldn’t lose you and you weren’t ready to find all this out. But now that you’re sixteen… you can’t hide from the monsters anymore. You have to go to this Camp. They can teach you how to fight monsters. How to be safe. I knew Percy’s mom when he was younger. That black-haired boy is Percy. He found me a year ago. His mom had insisted he find me and ensure you’d been protected. I didn’t listen, even though they warned me about Gaea. That’s why we moved from the farm and into the city. You have to go with them. You can trust them, I swear it.”

“Mommy, please… I don’t want to leave you.” I cried. She took my hand, her expression one of complete sadness,

“Tell Chiron your father is Apollo.” She said, then left to her room. I packed a bag and washed my face to rid my eyes of the puffiness and bloodshot redness. I walked out of the apartment, shutting the door behind me. It wasn’t even eleven a.m. yet and my world had been slammed against a brick so hard I could feel the ground swaying and my head spinning. I followed them quietly downstairs, walking slowly behind them, feeling faint. Greek god… monsters.. your father is Apollo… demigods… train… protect…. Camp Half-Blood… tell Chiron….Greek gods…. father… demigods…. Camp….. Greek…. My eyesight blurred, getting darker and darker until I was unable to step forward anymore. I could feel my body slump down and hit the pavement, but I was unconscious before it could hurt. 

* * *

I woke up in a well-lit room, with curtains blocking off most of the room. Was I in the hospital? But then a Latino boy with curly hair walked in and I remembered everything. “What happened? Where am I?”

“Annabeth said something about shock, but basically your body couldn’t handle anymore information and just kind of…. shut down. That happens sometimes when people learn too much earth-shaking stuff at once.” Leo said, his impish smile back on his face, making my heart speed up, and suddenly everything felt normal and out-of-place all at once. 

“S-so basically you’re saying I p-passed out?” I asked quietly. He nodded and I struggled to meet his eyes. “A-am I at C-camp Half-Blood?” 

“Yes. Did your mom tell you who your dad is?” Leo asked, his voice too anxious, making me raise my eyebrows.

“Apollo, why?” I said, too confused to be thinking about blushing and being shy.

He visibly relaxed like he’d been holding his breath or something. “Good. If you can stand, I’ll take you to meet your siblings.” 

“Siblings?” I said, shocked.

“Well… half-siblings anyway. You’ll fit right in, don’t worry.” he said, but his smile made it difficult to believe he was being honest and not planning an epic prank.

I wanted to cry, but instead I stood and followed him out of the infirmary, and into the middle of a camp grounds. To one side of me, a giant strawberry field grew, children in orange t-shirts and furry pants were blowing into pipes and walking between the rows. To another side, a path that led down to a series of the oddest cabins I’d ever seen. The one that stood out to me most was the one that appeared to be made of pure gold as the sun shone blindingly off it. Leo led me inside that one, and there was a few kids inside, sitting on bunks or standing talking to each other. “This the new girl?” One of them, a sun-bleached blonde, with blue eyes and a surfer-build, male asked, stepping forward, looking at me. 

Leo nodded. “Her name is Rylee Wicker. Daughter of Apollo. Think you can find some room for her?”

The boy nodded and Leo left even though I was screaming on the inside for him to take me with him. “I’m Will Solace. You can have that bunk on the far right wall, and the trunk next to it’s for your stuff. Unpack then I’ll have Mellissa give you the tour of the place. Hope you like it here.” 

An ashy blonde female with the same blue eyes as Will, led me around the camp grounds an hour later, naming off different places. Then there was a sound of someone blowing into a shell and we sat down in the pavilion to eat dinner. I looked up from my empty plate to figure out how to make it work, and realized I had a perfect view of Leo. My heart skipped a beat as he looked my direction, and I dropped my eyes to my plate. Once I finally had food and a glass of blackberry Dr. Pepper, I followed my siblings to burn an offering to my dad. 'Hey, Dad, if you’re listening, I don’t forgive you for breaking Mom’s heart.' Then I sat back down and ate my food, occasionally glancing -okay, staring- at Leo.


	2. Chapter Two ~Odd Dreams and Magic Gifts~

After dinner, we sat around a campfire, Leo, Percy, and Annabeth sitting next to me. While a bunch of other campers sang regular campfire songs, making the fire turn a mellow yellow, Percy explained about camp rules and said he would train me in sword-fighting and his friend, Frank, would teach me archery. Apparently, because I was a daughter of Apollo, I was supposed to have some natural ability to be brilliant at archery. That made me want to burst out laughing. Clearly they’d never seen me play dodge ball. I was not very coordinated. Leo said that my natural ability for realistic drawings was also an Apollo thing. Fabulous, I’ll just draw monsters to death. I thought to myself.

 

Eventually we were all dismissed to our cabins and Will called lights out. I snuggled under my covers and after some tossing and turning, I fell asleep.

 

I was standing on an island, a beach. Waves washed gently over my feet and the sun shone brightly in the sky. A young girl with long hair and caramel colored eyes walked towards me. Though her movements were slow and calm, her expression was one of terror. When she reached me, she spoke, “Rylee, you must help me! They will fail without you. I know you don’t want to help me, or at least you won’t, but without your help, I will be killed. And it would be devastating for the Camp if I did. You will understand soon.”

I could tell the dream was ending soon, but I was not ready to leave. “What do you mean? I can’t help you! I’m just some uncoordinated kid, I can’t fight… I have no gifts.”

The girl smiled sadly. “Then tell me how you reached my island in a dream. A feat never accomplished. You have more talent then you realize. Tell no one of this dream, but you must go with them when they leave. It is vitally important.”

“Who are you?” I asked as the image started fading.

Very faintly, I caught her last word. “Calypso.”

 

I snapped awake, to the pitch black cabin. I rolled over onto my right side and fell back asleep.

 

This time the world was much darker. The sky was blood red and the ground was an inky black. A wind howled around me, stirring my… I was wearing a golden yellow dress that clung to my torso and was cut in a weird, overlapping way from the hips down. The sleeves were at the edge of my shoulders and the v-neck was cut embarrassingly low. My long light brown, almost blonde, hair hung loose in gentle waves that were being tangled by the violent wind. I held my arm over my face to shield my eyes from flying debris. As I walked closer to the dangerous storm, a dark grey cloud spiraled down, a terrifying mixture of saltwater and wind, touching the ground, creating a large, frighteningly close, hurricane. It was too late to run away. I could hear Leo and two other boys calling for me to run towards them, away from the dangerous storm, but I could not find them. I was pulled into the incredibly fast winds of the hurricane, and as I was spun round and round, I heard a young woman scream. Then I was shoved into a large block of wood and blacked out.

 

I jolted awake yet again, this time to a bright room. Campers were making beds or changing into orange camp shirts. A curtain hung between the boys and girls’ side to protect each other’s privacy. I stumbled from bed, changed into an orange shirt and a fresh pair of jeans that Melissa gave me. She was taller and curvier than I was, meaning the shirt that would have clung to her figure, hung loosely from mine, and came to my thighs. I was grateful for the clothes and didn’t complain as we walked outside to the blistering heat. Campers were already leaving the pavilion despite the early hour and heading to different parts of camp to train. After I ate, Will told me to head down to the arena because Percy was waiting for me.

 

When I reached the training arena, Percy was there, hitting practice dummies with a long sword, either cutting off their straw limbs, impaling them in the chest, or merely knocking them over. Each one was dealt a blow like it had personally wronged him in some way. I watched for awhile, trying to figure out how to swordfight before I allowed myself to be made a fool of. Eventually he noticed me and stopped, “Good, you’re here. Let’s get you a weapon then we can begin.”

 

I followed him to a shack full of sharp blades of different sizes and lengths. Most of them were two heavy and awkward when I tried carrying them. Eventually I found one that was just the right length. Not quite a sword, but longer than a dagger, it had a bright golden blade and a black hilt, that fit my hand perfectly, like it had been made just for me. Percy led me back to the arena and corrected my hand’s position and my stance, then slowly and very patiently taught me fighting techniques. Even though he disarmed me every time, he said I was actually really good.

 

I left feeling sore and my arms covered in small scratches that didn’t sting too bad, but were still inconvenient. After I ate lunch with a few of my half-siblings (It still felt weird to call them that.), Leo dragged me to a different part of camp I had yet to see, where the archers practiced. It was abandoned except for one chinese teen boy who was shooting arrows at moving targets. He never missed. Honestly, I was incredibly intimidated. Here was someone, without Apollo’s gift for archery, who was definitely going to prove that I, an actual Apollo kid, had no gift for archery. I trembled as Leo got the boy’s attention.

 

“Oh, hey, Leo. Who’s this?”

 

“New Apollo kid,” Leo said with a grin. “I’ll just leave you two to your,” he made some weird hand gestures. “archery.” he winked, making the big guy go an impressive shade of red.

 

“Uh, don’t listen to him. He’s kinda…” he trailed off.

 

“Insane?” I finished for him.

 

He laughed at that. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” he stood there for a second, awkwardly swaying left to right. His eyes suddenly widened. “ Oh! I’m Frank Zhang. I’ll be teaching you archery.”

 

I just nodded and gulped, “Uh, you can call me Rylee. But, I’ve never really done archery before. I don’t think I’d be very good...”

 

Frank smiled down at me. For some reason, it soothed some of my nerves. “Don’t worry. If you’re a daughter of Apollo, you’ll be a natural.”

 

He handed me a bow and a sling of arrows. He showed me how to properly hold the bow and notch the arrow, then let me take a shot. Needless to say, I missed every time. I became more frustrated, but not surprised, with each shot. I could see the shock on Frank’s face, though he was desperately trying to hide it. But, he was incredibly patient with me, which I was extremely grateful for, since I had no idea what I was doing.

 

“Try aiming a little higher…. and don’t shake so much, you have to hold the bow steady, okay?” He said gently.

 

I did as he said, or at least the best I could, and managed to actually hit the target, but on the far outer ring. I was pretty pleased with myself, though.

 

“Look at you, you made progress!” Frank smiled. And though I knew he didn’t mean to sound exhausted with me, it still brought my feeling of accomplishment down a few notches. “Alright, dinner will be soon,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “why don’t you go find the Apollo kids? We can continue tomorrow, okay?”

 

I nodded and left. I wasn’t all that hungry, nor eager to tell Will that I was a sucky archer, so I headed away from my cabin and down to the lake. There was only one person down there, but they were gathering up their shoes and clothes (the guy was wearing swimming trunks) and didn’t notice me as they left. I sat on the pier, dipping my toes into the water. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be here. I was no good at any of the forms of fighting I’d been shown so far and I didn’t feel like I fit in with anyone here. The only person who I really cared about was the person I barely saw. And honestly, Leo Valdez didn’t know me that well. He just saw me as that one girl who was okay at drawing and happened to be his… cousin or whatever. I still didn’t understand the whole relationship thing between the gods and their kids. I knew Percy and Annabeth were dating so that must mean there was a loophole somewhere, but I had yet to figure it out.

 

I heard the gentle sound of shifting sand and turned around to see a dark haired boy with frighteningly pale skin and a thin, almost sickly, look. His shoved his hair out of his eyes, and after he saw me, started to turn away. Normally I would shrug it off and pretend I never saw him, but this time, well, I don’t know. I guess I just sensed someone else in need of a friend. “Wait!” I called out.

He paused, and turned around again. “What?”

 

“I-I’m Rylee… hello.” I said awkwardly, looking down at my hands. His dark eyes, shadowed by his hair so I could not see their color, intimidated me.

 

He hesitated, then shrugged and walked closer to me. “Nico. You’re new here, yes?”

 

I nodded. I almost regretted calling this boy over. The situation was so awkward and being alone was almost preferable. I fidgeted with my bracelet. It was just a small golden chain-link type of thing that I’d had since I was a baby. I never took it off, even when I was in the shower, and somehow the paint never chipped and the metal never rusted. I’d never questioned it until just then.

 

“What’s that?” Nico asked, gesturing to the jewelry on my wrist..

 

“A bracelet. I’ve had it since I was a baby.” I said shyly.

 

“Take it off.” He said.

 

I looked at him, confused. “Why?”

 

“Just do it… I have this feeling…”

 

I unhooked the bracelet and cupped it in my hands. Nothing happened, at first. Then the chain moved in my hands and linked together to form a perfect circle. An image shown in the middle. As soon as I realized it was Leo, I clenched my fists, breaking the image. “A gift from Apollo. I think it shows whoever you’re thinking of. It might show the future too…” Nico said.

 

I gaped at the chain in my hands. My dad really had cared about me? “I didn’t think… well… I didn’t think he cared... “ I mumbled.

 

“Most demigods think that. Some are right, some are wrong. In this case, you were wrong.” Nico said quietly.

 

I looked up at him. “And in your case?”

 

He shook his head and walked away, leaving me to stare at the magical object in my hands.

**Author's Note:**

> You left me when I needed you most  
> You kicked me out when I wanted to stay more than anything  
> You don't seem to notice me even when I can't stop noticing you  
> Why do I love you all so much?


End file.
